between here and there
by Jacx64
Summary: jessi likes to play diablo2, he also like to beleive it could be be true... he'll soon change his idea on how cool that would be. Rated M for later chapters
1. between home and the blood marsh

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own diablo2 or anything related, only the character are mine. Everything else belongs to the geniuses behind Blizzard entertainment**

Hey so this is my first 'real world goes to the game' story! so constructive criticism is welcome as well as any heads up to mistake i have over looked(i know thee are some)

enjoy!

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"Dammit! Can't he leave me alone?"Said someone clearly frustrated.

Jessi was playing diablo2 on his computer that night, like every night since the ladder reset. Sitting on his bed he was overlooking the screen from his laptop, frowning. He had made a mistake that night by telling the other players on the server that this was his third character and that the others were high levels. At the moment, the source of his frustration was a sorceress by the name of Julzie that was following his necromancer, Riley, around as if everything he did was pure gold. Apparently Julzie was played by a new player who hadn't played Diablo before...and who tried a bit too much to help Riley out. This, of course, pissed Jessi off, but it wasn't bad enough to take his mind of the game, you see Jessi was role player... oh he knew that no one played roles in Diablo, but he was a dreamer and in front of his screen he could imagine them as if they were real people living in this fantasy world. He envied them so much always in an adventure to save Sanctuary. This would soon change however.

"Ok! You won't leave me alone so...time to quit! "

He hit the escape key and selected save and exit but just as he clicked on the link everything went dark.

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"WHAT DID YOU JUST DO!!!" an angry voice shouted.

"Well ...I was just trying to help you..."a little feminine voice answered.

"Okay let's calm down ... Julzie I need you to tell me exactly what you did" a barely controlled Riley said.

"Well...you were being so mean by ignoring me. I thought I d show you how useful I could be"

"What did you do to my skeleton?" he said.

"I tried to infuse it with magic when you summoned it... I thought it would be interesting to have a skeleton with life tap and the ability to teleport" her voice was shaking, almost crying, from shame.

"But I thought you hadn't mastered that skill yet? And life tap isn t something your supposed to know how to do..." he knew this from hours of her talking to him about how she was just a starting sorceress and she had yet to learn the more powerful spells. She had been following him for the better part of a day now always talking about how she found the True arts interesting and how she thought they should team up because they would make this incredible team and... She hadn't stopped talking and it was driving Riley nuts! Just a few moments ago he had tried to summon a skeleton and saw her chanting an incantion then he felt the energy being directed at his forming summon that then just disappeared. Riley was extremely angry at her because he felt the connection between his life line and his summon just a few short seconds before he vanished.

"Practically speaking no... But I thought it would be a great practice for me and what s the harm? It s just a teleportation spell!" she was speaking really quickly, almost too fast for him to understand. Julzie was greatly embarrassed by the miserable failure of her spell and was now sure that he would never tag along with her. She didn't understand why he was this mad though.

"The problem is that apparently you ve succeeded in tapping into my lifeline! I tried summoning a skeleton to dismiss the first one and it worked, except the tap on my lifeline remained meaning that whatever I summoned is now directly linked to my life, not under my control, running around I don't know where!"The necromancer was losing his cool again.

"Oh... well it s got to be around here somewhere! Teleportation doesn't take you far. I'll help you find it!"Julzie said, hope in her eyes. If she could do this maybe he would give her another chance! Unfortunately for her his next words washed her hope away.

"You _will_ help me find it and then after you've broken the spell you _will_ leave me ALONE!"

With this they started searching

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Pain.  
Everywhere pain.  
Jessi couldn't believe how much pain he was feeling. He was on the ground writhing with it, the earth under him was wet from a light rain that had started a few moments before he had appeared in the fields, he didn t really notice though, because every fibber of his body was hurting to the point where he wished he would die. He didn't die though, after a few minutes the pain receded and left him shaking and sweaty on the ground. Slowly getting to his feet he looked around and almost screamed in surprise... he wasn't at home on his bed anymore, he was standing in the middle a green marsh.

"Where the hell am I?"

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They had been searching for an hour now, but still they hadn't found Riley s summon.

"Oh! Come on! How long is this going to take ...the blood marsh isn't that big were bound to run into it anytime now. It's not like it can get to the cold plains Flavie won't let it pass and without me around the rogues won't let it into their camp" Riley was getting rather annoyed by this stupid search that was filled with the sorceress's comments on how unnatural the rain was, how the rogues were cold, how she found it odd Charsi was almost naked and Warriv short and also...

"...and Akara is weird don't you... hum Riley?" Julzie had stopped walking

"WHAT! What now Julzie?" Riley stopped turning towards her.

Julzie was just standing there, dressed in the traditional attire, her top, although covering her arms and neck, left her stomach and a quite satisfying under-cleavage in plain sight for all to admire and her skirt left her long slim legs to please the eye. She had long dark hair and in her eyes you could see the spark of wild magic flowing through her body. She was sexy and would have been desirable even for Riley if all of this hadn't been eclipsed by her constant speaking. She was frowning over a glowing piece of parchment which Riley immediately identified as being her map since he also had one just like that.

"Well according to the map we explored everywhere except..."she hesitated for a moment.

"Except what?" he took the map from her hands, not bothering to get his own out. The magic item recorded everywhere one had been and even wrote the name of the area in the top right corner. He was about to tell her that everything was covered when he saw it. Represented as a greyish blot on the map and a red x right under it, it was a marking any adventurer knew very well.

"Except the den of evil" she finished.

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Seeking cover from the rain, Jessi had spotted a small opening, roughly the size of a small human, resting behind a big rock. Not really thinking of possible dangers, he entered the small cave to wait out the rain; he had decided that once the sky had cleared he would start searching for the nearest town and try to find help there. After a couple of minutes, about half an hour, he decided to explore the place he had taken shelter in and discovered that what, at first, had seemed like a small cave was really more like a great underground maze filled with pitch black tunnels. Even more interesting was that there were a couple of torches lit here and there. Suddenly a small shadow moved from a torch to another.

"Hello... HELLO?" Jessi said with a strong voice, trying to hide his fear.

Another quick move, then, as he was getting closer, a small red demon came out of the shadows. He wasn't much taller than a 8 year old, but the curved blade he held in one of his hands froze Jessi in place.

"Rakanishu!" the little demon screamed

"watch-out!" a fire-ball flew right passed him and crashed into the little monster turning him into a smouldering pile of flesh and blood.

"WHAT THE!" Jessi fell back in shock

But then the remains of the body started shaking then stoped for a split second before bursting like a balloon, sending pieces of flesh everywhere. In the place of a burnt body now stood a six foot tall skeleton armed with the scimitar that the monster held a few seconds ago.

"OH MY FUCKING GOD!!!" scrambling to his feet Jessi turned around and ran...right into Julzie, which, caught off guard, fell screaming taking Jessi to the ground with her.

"Wow kid, you went into the den of evil unarmed... you're either moronic or deadly allergic to rain" Riley said, laughing at the both of them as they tried to get back up.

"WHO ARE YOU GUYS?" Jessi was on the verge of a breakdown.

"Well as you can tell I'm a necromancer and she's a sorceress but introductions can wait till later ... Fallens rarely come alone meaning his little buddys are about to show up. Stay close to us if you want to live" Riley quickly turned his eyes to the surrounding darkness.

Before Jessi had the chance to say anything else, Julzie spotted movement and shot in its general direction, burning a very surprised fallen and lighting up the tunnel...full of monsters. For Jessi everything after this resumed to running, screaming and carnage as the monster were either burned to death or split in half by the skeleton. Finally as the last zombie, Jessi found out that this as well as other skeletons and giants things that could be compared to greyish abominable snowman could also be found in the tunnels, fell to the floor, rays of light flooded the cave.

"Is that enough to earn the rogues trust?" With these words Riley took out a piece of parchment sealed with a blue ribbon. Breaking the seal, a blue portal opened.

"Town portal's up!" Riley said turning towards them.

"Wait! Town portal? Fallen? NECROMANCER? WHERE DID YOU SAY WE WERE?" Jessi was starting to put the pieces together.

"The den of evil. Why?" Julzie answered.

Jessi fainted to these words. Julzie and Riley looked at each other for a second then Riley laughed looking at the unconscious teenager.

"Well I m not going to carry him" and he stepped through the portal.

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ok that went well more chapters coming up and for those who haven't figured it out the story will follow the original acts

yours truly

_Jacx64_


	2. between The searess and The blacksmith

Slowly coming to, Jessi kept his eyes closed.

He could hear the cracks of a fire nearby and the soft rain hitting the top of tents.

'_Don't open your eyes... this was just a dream...concentrate on waking up 3...2...1...open your eyes'_ He did only to find himself looking at the top of a tent, he was laying down on a small bunk bed. Sitting up, he saw the huge fire through the flaps and figures were moving outside. Careful not to make any sounds, he stood up and backed up to the rear of the tent. He hoped that he could leave the tent from behind and run away as fast as he could. What he hadn't planned was tripping himself and falling on a chair where Julzie was sitting, sleeping, she had apparently decided to wait for him to wake.

"What! Oh! You're awake...and sitting on me? Must we always meet this way?"Julzie said laughing.

"Who are you people?!" Jessi asked starting to panic again.

"Well my name is Julzie, I'm a sorceress and by 'you people' I'm guessing you're talking about Riley... he's a necromancer. We found you in the den of evil about to be killed by Fallens and we saved you... but you remember that much right?"

"Riley?! Julzie?! This isn't possible! I'm dreaming... I-I must be dreaming tell me this is a dream!" Jessi was almost crying now.

Julzie sighed; this boy had been through much recently and was still shocked. To make him believe what he was seeing she decided to pinch him.

"Ouch! Oh my god I'm not dreaming this is real! But it can't be you guys ...you're just a game, you're not real, just a computer game...NOT REAL!" Jessi knew that everything around him was real but still didn't want to believe it.

"Ok! Believe what you want, but Riley's waiting for us outside... apparently Akara wants to talk to us... to you too" Julzie stepped outside, waiting for him to get his thoughts together .

'_Well... this doesn't make ANY sense but apparently everything around me is real so I should probably play along, after all didn't I dream of this? No... Not like this"_ Gathering his courage, stepped out of the tent, immediately recognizing the rogues' encampment, walking by Julzie, who started following him, he went straight for Akara's tent. He slowed down a few meters before the hut to find Riley waiting for them, he had his back to the fence and tried his best to look annoyed, however, Jessi, who had played him, knew that he was actually relieved to see him alright.

"Took you long enough kid, a bit longer and I would've been able to summon a skeleton from my own body... _Hi Julzie!_" the last words were said with an annoyance he didn't even try to mask.

At that moment Akara, all dressed in her long purple robes, came out of her hut and looked at all of them, her gaze staying a bit longer on Jessi which made him very uncomfortable.

"My you came from far haven't you? Anyway this can wait until later. You have cleansed the den of evil. You've earned my trust and may yet restore my faith in humanity. Your reward is training in the skill of your choice" and with these words she opened her harms.

Jessi felt a wave of power wash over him, apparently he wasn't the only one has Julzie immediately took out her spell book to study a particular skill he didn't see. Only Riley remained sceptical.

"You honestly believe that you can help me make my skeleton stronger? I'm sorry to be rude but what could an old lady like you possibly know about the True art that is necromancy!"

"Take your spell book and study it... I'm sure you'll be surprised by the results" Akara smiled in a mysterious way.

"Hum..." Jessi shifted unsure how to say it.

"Ha yes! You young one don't have a spell book right?"Everyone froze to these words.

"That's impossible, everyone has a spell book. Their born almost with it! No one knows how it works but everyone has one!"Riley looked at Jessi suspiciously... everyone except demons.

"Well ...I'm not exactly from around here... in fact I'm not exactly from Sanctuary either" Jessi knew that he would have to say it eventually but had no idea how.

"What? Not from Sanctuary... how is that possible?" Julzie asked, her thirst for knowledge acting up.

"Well... I come from earth... and to me, you guys, all of this, everything, it's all just a game. You don't exist you're all just a story out of the imagination of the guys who created you." Jessi waited apprehending what their reaction would be.

"Ha ha! Right kid and how did you come here? On a unicorn? Give me a break... you're either crazy or you hit your head really hard. Anyway you're not my problem" Riley was laughing out loud holding his ribs.

"On the contrary necromancer, you have everything to do with him... didn't you feel the link between the two of you? He is your summon... you and Julzie brought him hear and until she figures out how to break the link, and this will take a long time given the complexity of what binds you together, you are stuck together so where ever you go he goes." Akara was lightly smiling, obviously enjoying taking the smug smile of Riley's face.

"What!" The three of them screamed at the same time.

"Julzie is this true?"Riley was all but condescent now.

"Well... theoretically speaking... I have no idea!"Julzie was truly baffled by what she had just heard.

"So... what? I'm just to sit on my hands for the next ten years waiting for her to figure out how to undo this?"Riley was white... well whiter than usual, having just realized how long he could be stuck in the company of others.

"No, like everyone in Sanctuary he was given a spell book upon arrival. I found this one in my hut this morning, maybe it's yours." Akara handed out a small dark leather book.

Jessi took it and, just as he touched the cover, he felt a five warm waves, similar to the one Akara had just made. The book then started glowing red in his hand. As he opened it, a bright ray of light shot up from the pages and a number of symbols appeared one by one in the book. Three skill trees appeared on the first pages, the icons dark gray meant that these skills hadn't been activated yet and, on the top right, another small symbol glowed, six small white balls rotated around it. Instinctively, Jessi knew what to do and he taped once on the skills he wanted. Four points were spent on one skill and two others on another from a different skill tree, but before the others saw what he was doing he closed the spell book quickly. Akara smiled at him gently.

"It would seem that you now need equipments, go see Charsi and tell her I sent you"

Jessi quickly moved from one side of the camp to the other, he didn't care if it was a dream or not anymore, he had wanted to live this for so long. He quickly reached the blacksmith's tent, Charsi was there hammer in one hand, white hot sword in the other, as she saw them appear in the corner of her eyes she went back to the little forge and put the blade back in it. As she turned around, Jessi saw that she really was naked underneath her work 'clothes'. Turning to meet them she wiped the sweat of her forehead.

"Hi there I'm..."

"Charsi the blacksmith here in town" Jessi finished the sentence for her, leaving the three others bit surprised.

"Yes... What can I do for you?"Charsi said, once she got over the surprise.

"Akara sent us. I know you can equip me, but I don't have any gold"

"Well then you can't see MY stuff, but since Akara sent you I guess I can let you rummage through what we've looted from the monsters that live around town. You'd be surprised at what you can find on those buggers"

She was right; among the pile of stuff he found a studded leather armour, a pair of quilted gloves, some leather boots, a crude skull cap and a nice scimitar.

Just as he was done suiting up, Kashya came towards them running

"My rogue scouts have reported ..."

"...an abomination in the monastery graveyard" Jessi finished for her, and then sighed.

"You really need to tell me how you do that!" Riley said.


	3. Between life and death

Sorry for the extremely late update... between the writter's block to my computer problems let's just say it's been a hard few months but i'm back and should, let's hope, update monthly if not sooner.

thank you for my three reviews but honestly if you dont review i have no idea if you guys are even reading this... anyway i'll keep posting for now but i kinda need encouragement. so R&R please

Disclaimer: I do not own Blizzard nor do i own Diablo for if i did i wouldn't be writting this.

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Leaping to the side, Jessi dodged a fire ball that went crashing into the last fallen shaman chest. They had found a small fallen camp shortly after entering the cold plains and Riley had decided to vent his anger on them. Shifting his weight to the side Jessi slashed open the skull of one of those horrible little creatures before blocking a hit from another.

'_This is insane! How the hell did I know how to do that?' _he thought. Apparently the ability to fight was given to him at the same time as his spell book. His thoughts were interrupted by an arrow missing him by no more than a hair. He turned to Julzie and screamed

"WE GOT SOME MORE COMPANIE!"

When he turned back to the face the new threat he saw that Riley's skeleton had already engaged them without any real problems and were well on their way to beating the crap out of the corrupted rogues, so he turned back to the bodies and started picking through the remains. When they were done Julzie and Riley joined him.

"Are you done now or do you want to kill every living thing in the cold plains before we proceed to the burial grounds? " Julzie asked Riley

"Actually there are a few more things I'd like to kill..." he said shooting her a look that said 'you are one of them' "...but we are losing time"

"Okay then let's go!" Jessi said.

They followed the dirt path encountering some more fallen and corrupted rogues until they arrived to the split in the road. They then chose to go left hoping it wouldn't lead them to the stony fields, but their doubts weren't necessary since before long they entered the burial grounds. The already gloomy atmosphere of the cold plains got even worst when they entered the cemetery, the old fences surrounding the actual cemetery were rusted through and many holes were visible. The graves themselves were in pretty bad shape and many and been dug out with their now empty coffins left open. There was no need to wonder where the occupants went as hordes of zombies and skeletons were all over the place.

"Too many empty graves..." Riley was the only one to say something, Julzie being too horrified to speak and Jessi who already knew what they would find.

They slowly entered the perimeter waiting for something to happen and, as they neared the big tree in the middle of the burial grounds, something did. A sinister laugh echoed through the air and a flash of red could be seen jumping from behind the tree to a gravestone.

"JOIN MY ARMY OF THE DEAD!" Blood raven stood on the partly broken grave in her full armour, from her blood re high boots to the animal skull she used as a helmet.

Moving way faster than any of them she drew an arrow and shot at Jessi, the shot animated by magic burst into fire shortly after leaving the bow and hit Jessi's shoulder with such force that he was sent flying backwards and crashed through tombstones. As if waiting on this cue hordes of zombies came out of nowhere and engaged Riley's minion. For a moments it seemed like Riley and is army would be overpowered but when Julzie's fireballs went crashing into the rotting corpses the battle quickly and clearly turned in favour of the living. Blood raven, seeing her army was losing, summoned a few other corpses and slowly started retreating to a nearby group of very much damaged tombstones before resuming her barrage of arrows. She started noticing something odd when she realized the necromancer she had been shooting at did not seem to take damage but seemed more and more healthy with time. She only noticed the blue circles glowing around every single one of her enemies when it was too late; a strong arm coiled around her waist while a blade appeared on her throat.

"Now you seem to cherish the thought of you staying alive...so how about you call of your horde and we can talk this trough... Unless you prefer losing your head right now? Apparently your still alive for a few seconds after your head is separated from your body but I can't imagine a hell worst than this...your call" Jessi had only had the time to activate prayer the moment before impact, but he was really happy that he chose this skill.

Blood raven was boiling inside... she had been had like a novice but she fancied her head where it was so she called of the army of dead and was now waiting to see how this played out.

Riley and Julzie slowly came towards them, already thinking of what they should do. Killing someone in battle was something but killing someone while she was immobilized and unarmed would be an execution and a coldblooded kill none of them wanted on their conscience.

"Well letting her go is of the table she'd just find a new cemetery and we'd have to deal with again. Plus what's to say she won't just follow us and kill us in our sleep...she is with Andariel after all..."Riley was the first to speak to get this point clear.

"What! I'm not working for Andariel!" Blood raven jumped at the accusation.

"Says the corrupted rogue raising the dead in a cemetery..." Jessi tightened his grip on her, surprised by her strength.

"No really! I'm not! The reason why I was raising this army was the face her... true I may have been corrupted by her presence but I never could've swore allegiance to that monster! She's the one who made me become like this after all...and it's not like I could've just walked back in the rogue camp to ask for help looking like this" Blood raven spoke with anger and sadness at while she mentioned her transformation and the fact the she could no longer go back to her sisters.

"How can we be sure your telling the truth? We can't exactly take your word for now can't we?"Riley remained suspicious even if her explanations made sense.

"Then why did you attack us when we entered why not just explain yourself?"Jessi held his grip on her wary of any sudden moves she made.

"Oh right! Just invite you for some tea! You guys think you're the first coucous that Kaysha sent against me? Do you think any of them tried to chat first?"Blood raven was desperate, she told them the truth hoping she would be spared but the longer they questioned her the more she doubted that scenario was even possible.

"Why don't we just keep her with us?"This was the first time Julzie had spoken since the end of the fight.

"WHAT? Are you completely insane there's no wa..." Riley started saying.

"Shut up Riley! That's actually a good idea... I mean we clearly proven that we can take her on so if she starts shit we'll just take her out and that way we can be sure she won't cause any more trouble to the rogue camp." Jessi loosened his grip and put away his sword, but before letting Blood raven go she tightened his grips on her again, slamming her back on his torso successfully cutting her breath, and whispered in her ear" if you ever try something against us I will rip out your arm and beat you to death with the bloody end" he then let her go.

"Wait your actually going to go through with this? This is bullshit! Not only am I stuck with you and that incompetent mage over there but now I have to endure miss fucking matador cape too?"Riley just couldn't believe how bad a week this was turning into and he felt it was only starting.

"Don't be a dick about it! Julzie and I agreed, we have majority and since you're stuck with us until we figure how to solve our 'little problem' you're stuck with her too...deal with it!" Jessi voice was soft but left Riley no room for arguing.

"Did I ever mention how much I hate you all...?" Riley spat coldly before slowly walking towards the crypt.

"Only all the time Riley... only all the time...well lets go plunder some treasures!" Jessi followed Julzie to the entrance of the crypt.

"Are you guys always like that?" Blood raven asked Just puzzled as to how a group of disparate adventurers like these had managed to best her.

"Welcome into our merry little group! And, for the love of whatever god you rogues believe in, put on some better clothes... I can almost see through your loincloth" Riley said, with a faint smile and a wink, before bashing down the door to the crypt.

* * *

So like i said at the top i had a major writters block on this story but i worked around it and i now have a good idea of the general direction of my story.

that being said if you guys have any idea that you think could improve the story or even would like me to do a quest in a certain way feel free to post it.

P.S for those who are wondering why the M rating next chapters especially those in the catacombs and tristram will be more graphic and violent and way down the line...and i mean probably after the first act (althought there might be some in the countess's tower) there might be lemon.


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